Rainy Day

Today was a day worthy of a blues song. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night (for stupid reasons). I didn’t eat breakfast this morning and ran until around 3:00 pm on a bottled Frappuccino and a granola bar. My dietary self-abuse gave me abdominal cramps. The Historic District and Landmarks Commission refused to endorse our application because the Board of Zoning and Adjustment hadn’t taken a stance. To top it all off, the Louisiana skies opened up and dumped biblical amounts of water onto the unfortunate city.

Our client is an elderly woman. Now, bear with me, because the story gets even better. She had two daughters one of whom is on dialysis and the other died in Katrina. The deceased daughter orphaned 3 kids, I’m not sure of their ages. Her home, which should be noted is not historic itself, is located in the Historic Neighborhood of Holy Cross. The structure was added onto numerous times with the most recent addition intended to house the grandchildren. They began construction on the addition without a building permit and got to the point of putting up the framing for the walls. Before Katrina, there was a long history of construction without building permits and the city kindly looked the other way. After the storm, however, the city became hell-bent on enforcement. Our client received an order to stop construction and apply for a building permit. In order to obtain said permit, we must help her apply for a zoning variance, as the construction violates a setback ordinance from the side of the property line.

My co-worker spent probably the last two weeks preparing necessary documents, drawings for how to finish the halted construction, and site photos etc. Only to have his project get delayed by the bloody HDLC. The commission was somewhat vexed at why would we come before them without first obtaining a building permit. Of course, the Board of Zoning and Adjustment wanted a ruling by the HDLC before deciding to grant a zoning variance. I suppose such delays are normal and to be expected when dealing with any bureaucracy but they are exhausting. We just want to and have yet to close a single bloody case. (Keep in mind that the Design Studio is only a few months old and trying to work off the unrealistic caseload that our predecessor left for us.)

So we returned to NENA after stopping by a grungy po’ boy stand to eat an unsatisfying lunch. Upon returning, we saw another architect sitting with some NENA clients in the center of our open office space. Apparently, he was from the Make It Right! Foundation and was there for final review of a house that they had designed for this couple.

Amid all this overwhelming destruction and agonizing procedure, it’s very easy to lose sight of one’s goal and get depressed. It was remarkable to watch the architect officially stamp every page and have the couple sign beneath his stamp. After almost three years of being away from home, this was probably the couple’s first major step towards coming home. Judging by the smiles on their faces, I can only imagine the relief.

I guess rainy days never stay… :)